Hibernian midfielder Scott Allan has refuted claims he “cheated” Livingston.
Livi manager Gary Holt accused the former Celtic player of diving after watching footage of the penalty Allan won when he went down under the close attentions of former Hibs team-mate Marvin Bartley on Wednesday.
Allan converted the penalty to halve the deficit and Martin Boyle sealed a stoppage-time equaliser for Hibs.
The 27-year-old said: “I’m running into the box with a bit of pace, ball was played in behind, and I felt someone behind me. My momentum took me over. For me it’s a penalty, and I stepped up and put it away. It’s part of the game.”
When asked how he felt the footage looked, Allan said: “It’s different in real time, my momentum took me and the referee gave a penalty.”
The playmaker was unhappy with Holt’s comments.
“I think that’s poor to be honest,” Allan said. “The amount of kicks I take in a game and get up and play on would back that I’m not a cheat. For me it’s about doing a job professionally and the best for my club.
“It’s obviously just a manager who is a bit hurt after the game because his team let a 2-0 lead go. We have been in those positions and it’s not good and you look for excuses why your team didn’t get the result.”
Allan was also unimpressed with claims from Bartley that he never touched him.
“Marv was trying to talk to me the full game to be honest, he had so much to say,” Allan said. “The thing is with Marv, Marv probably shouldn’t have been on the pitch at that time.
“He said he didn’t catch me. To be fair the full game he was late and I felt at that time my momentum took me over and he was behind me along with three other players.”
Head coach Paul Heckingbottom claimed Holt had no evidence to back up his accusations.
“He’s got better eyes than me,” Heckingbottom said. “He has some camera that we’ve never seen.
“I could go back to where there’s absolutely no debate, black-and-white decisions for us that we haven’t got. There were also two instances in that game that should have been red cards for them, which weren’t. Look at them.
“If that’s how we want to debrief games, going over ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda’, we can do, but I’m more bothered about what we can do to change. It’s not my job to look after referees.
“I could be looking at Marv’s tackle first half, Marv’s elbow first half. It’s not going to get me the three points we deserve.
“So I don’t worry too much about that at all. And no-one can show me that it wasn’t a penalty.”
